FrankensteinOr, The Modern

Prometheus

By Mary Shelley

Power Point Presentation by Ms. Sarah McMane

Romanticism

A literary, artistic, and philosophical

movement originating in the 18th century,

characterized by an emphasis on:

•The imagination and emotions

•Freedom of thought and self-expression

•Sincerity, spontaneity, and originality

•The idealization of nature

American Romanticism

In America, Romanticism was defined by the

"five I's:"

Inspiration

Intuition

Innocence

Imagination

and Inner experience

Romantic Movement

Romanticism

Romantic

Poetry

Gothic

LiteratureTranscendentalism

Romantic Movement

Romantic Poetry – poetry written during the

romantic period which emphasizes the ideals of

romanticism (Famous romantic poets: Keats,

Wordsworth, Byron)

Transcendentalism – an American literary and

philosophical movement of the nineteenth century

that emphasized the importance of nature and the

transcendence of the spiritual over the material

The Gothic Movement

• Began in Britain in 1764 with the

publication of The Castle of Otranto by

Horace Walpole

--set in a medieval society

--features mysterious disappearances as

well as supernatural occurrences

--main protagonist is a solitary character

with an egocentric nature

The Gothic Movement Cont’d

• Even though Gothicism is a phase in

the Romantic movement, it is regarded

as the forerunner of the modern

mystery, horror, or science fiction novel

• Started to ease in Europe by 1840

The American Gothic Movement

~ 1825 – 1855

• Began later than the Gothic

Movement in Britain

• Included writers such as

Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel

Hawthorne, and Herman Melville

Gothic Literature:

• Explores “the darker side”

• Often deals with cultural

or psychic dislocation

• Is often melodramatic

• Plays on supernatural

According to Professor Sue Spearey,

at Brock University in Ontario:

Gothic literature is filled with

binary or oppositional sets.

Monstrous Boundaries

Why Gothicism?

The Appeal of Horror

There are eye-opening benefits in

being horrified:

1. Confronting horror enables people to

test their courage and check their

discernment, that is, their ability to

see through things.

The Appeal of Horror

2. It makes people ask, what is it that I

am really afraid of? Is it the monster

conjured up on the screen that

frightens me, or my dread of not being

in control of what happens moment by

moment? Is there anything in my life

that is actually worth being horrified or

scared of?

The Appeal of Horror

3. Humans have a need for stimulation,

excitement: “If we have a relatively

calm, uneventful lifestyle, we seek out

something that’s going to be exciting for

us, because our nervous system

requires periodic revving, just like a

good muscular engine.” -Stuart

Fischoff, psychology professor

The Appeal of Horror

4. It provides catharsis. Distress and delight

are correlated. “The pleasure comes from

the relief that follows,” says Campbell. “It

provides a cathartic effect, offering you

emotional release and escape from the

real world of bills and mortgages and the

economy and relationships.” -John

Edward Campbell, an expert in media

studies at Temple University.

Who Was Mary Shelley?

• born in 1797

• daughter of William

Godwin, a radical

political theorist,

novelist, and publisher

and Mary Wollstonecraft,

a writer and early feminist

thinker

William Godwin

• an English journalist,

political philosopher, and

novelist

• Considered one of the first

proponents of anarchism

• In An Enquiry Concerning

Political Justice (1793) he

argued that government is

a corrupting force in

society

Mary Wollstonecraft

• an English writer,

philosopher, and

advocate of women’s

rights

• A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman (1792)

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley

• named after her

mother

• came from a rich

intellectual and

literary heritage

• mother died shortly

after her birth

Percy Shelley

• Percy Shelley was also a

writer—known for his poetry

• Met Percy Shelley when she

was 15; he was married

• She became pregnant and lost

the baby

• His wife committed suicide

• Finally married Mary in 1816

On a Dark and Stormy Night…

• Ghost story

contest

• Inspired by a

dream

• Visited the poet

Lord Byron in

his villa

In her own words…

“I busied myself to think of a story - a story

to rival those which had excited us to this

task. One which would speak to the

mysterious fears of our nature and awaken

thrilling horror- one to make the reader

dread to look around, to curdle the blood and

quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not

accomplish these things, my ghost story

would be unworthy of its name.”

The Origins of Frankenstein:

Shelley’s Influences

Scientific Discoveries

Could people be

resuscitated

from death

through

electricity?

• Research with drowning victims

• Galvanism

Philosophy

--John Locke

Studied his Essay Concerning Human

Understanding almost daily in

December 1816 and January 1817

--Rousseau

In Rousseau's Second Discourse is a

discussion on the state of natural man

or what Rousseau calls the “noble

savage.”

Paradise Lost by John Milton

• Epic poem that tells the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden

• Deals with the ramifications of tampering with creation

• Epigraph for Frankenstein

Literary Element:

Epigraph

A motto or quotation, as at the

beginning of a literary

composition, setting forth a theme

Epigraph for Frankenstein:

“Did I request thee, Maker

from my clay to mould me man?

Did I solicit thee, from darkness

to promote me?”

from Paradise Lost

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

• Ovid, Latin poet 43 B.C.–A.D. 18

• The Metamorphoses -- epic poem that tells

the story of mythological figures who have

undergone transformations

The Metamorphoses

Features

Prometheus,

who made man

and was

punished for

giving man fire

Punishment of Prometheus

Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him

to a rock where an eagle came every day and

ate his ever regenerating liver.

Moral of the story: don’t play God or you will

pay the consequences.

Frankenstein as a Gothic Novel

Nature

Nature is used frequently to create

atmosphere. The bleak, glacial fields of the

Alps and the mists of the Arctic serve to

indicate the isolation of the two

protagonists.

Social Isolation

The solitary character in

Frankenstein can apply to

both the creator and his

creation as they both live

their lives in social isolation.

Mary herself felt isolated when after

becoming pregnant out of wedlock, she was

disowned by her father.

TERROR

Frankenstein depicts the “nightmarish terrors

that lie

beneath the

controlled and

ordered

surface of the

conscious

mind.”

-M.H. Abrams

Frankenstein as Science Fiction:

Science fiction explores “the marvels of

discovery and achievement that may result

from future developments in science and

technology.”

Mary Shelley used some of the most recent

technological findings of her time to create

Frankenstein.

Electricity

Shelley replaced the heavenly fire of the

Prometheus myth with the spark of

newly discovered electricity.

Galvanization

• The concepts of electricity and warmth

led to the discovery of the

galvanization process, which was said

to be the key to the animation of life.

• It is this process which animates

Frankenstein’s monster.

The Evolution of Frankenstein

Though Frankenstein

started as a novel by

Mary Shelley, it was

turned into a play, and

then a film. Now the

monster has evolved

into a worldwide icon.

Frank-in-Film

• The first Frankenstein film

was produced by

Thomas Edison at the

Edison Studios in

Orange, New Jersey in 1910

• liberal adaptation of the

novel

Boris Karloff in Frankenstein

• Played monster in

1931 film directed

by James Whale

• costume weighed 48

pounds

• 4-6 hours of makeup

Book to Film

Many blatant discrepancies:

• based on theatrical adaptations, not book

• simplified plot

• led to common misunderstanding

that the monster is named “Frankenstein”

Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein

Spawned

Sequels and

Imitations

Frankenstein

in the Comics

Gothic Literature and Culture

Today

Stephen King

Anne Rice

What’s the Connection Between Gothic

Literature and “Goth” Culture?

Goth Culture…

According to “A Goth Primer”

http://www.sfgoth.com/primer/

“Goth unashamedly celebrates the dark

recesses of the human psyche” through a

fondness for “dark sensuality, sweeping

sadness, morbid fascination, forbidden

love, and the beauty of enduring pain.”

Works Cited

Abrams, M.H., ed. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 5th ed. United States of

America: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1988.

Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol.

2. New York: Norton, 1993.

Encarta '95. CD-ROM. United States of America: Microsoft Corporation,

1994.

Encarta '99 Encyclopedia Winkler Print Edition. CD-ROM. United States of

America: Microsoft Corporation/Elsevier, 1993-1998.

Hamburg, Cynthia. My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and

Gothic Literature. <http://home-1.tiscali.nl/~hamberg/gothic.html

>Accessed: 1/25/02.

Works Cited Cont’d

National Library of Medicine. Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature.

<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frankhome.html > Accessed 2/2/02.

Thinkquest Team C0126184's Website on Romanticism.

<http://library.thinkquest.org/C0126184/english/movromanticism.htm> Accessed: 2/2/02.

Woodbridge, Kim. Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

<http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/maryshel/maryshel.shtml> Accessed: 2/2/02